Toxic Mold: Weapons of Mass Destruction

There is a big debate going on in the world of mold (fungus) that is tearing families, communities and people’s health apart. The debate is over a simple answer to the questions, “Is mold truly harmful to our health that it can cause people to get sick and possibly die or Is mold a harmless organism that does nothing to humans and people who complain that they are ill from its toxic effects are either lying and or crazy?”

Before I get into this extensive research below, the questions of the day to all the naysayers who think mold is harmless, are “If mold is not dangerous to humans, then why are militaries around the world spending millions of dollars in making weapons using mold mycotoxins to kill people?” And, “if mold is so harmless, then why is it used as a potent poison adopted by militaries for use in bioterrorism operations?”

In this article, I’m going to present to you research proving that various governments around the world have used and are using the mycotoxins produced by various toxic molds to make what are called “bioweapons: for their military to use in “germ warfare” to maim and kill their foes.

Research that proves without a shadow of a doubt that mold is not only dangerous, it is downright deadly.

Low molecular weight toxins from fungi need to be recognized as the biggest threat as bioweapons. Fungi are perhaps not a significant threat, although some toxins from them are. However, various factors needs to be considered and not simply overall toxicity or notoriety. Ease of ‘‘weaponisation’’ is important. However, T-2 toxin is a significant threat. Toxins, other than the well-known mycotoxins, require consideration. It is fundamental to be able to differentiate between normal and abnormal concentrations of toxins or fungi in the food and water supplies.”

The facts are that germ and toxic mold warfare has been used for hundreds, if not thousands of years. For example, in 1346, the Tatars catapulted plague-infected corpses into an Italian trade settlement in Crimea. The Spanish conquistadors used biological warfare used in the 1500’s against Indigenous peoples in the Americas. It wasn’t until the 1950’s that the first documented use of molds (fungi) were used for bio-weapons in warfare, and it became more prominent in the 1980’s when the U.S. accused Vietnam and allies of using mycotoxins (fungal poisons) in Laos and Cambodia which became known as “yellow rain.”

The mold Coccidioides immitis has been used as a weapon of bioterror or biowarfare with aerosol delivery.

The New Yorker had published an article in 2014 titled “Death Dust,” that explains how in the nineteen-fifties, both the U.S. and the Russians had bio-warfare programs using the mold known as Coccidioidomycosis or cocci for short. This mold is mainly found in the Southwest of the U.S. and in Northern Mexico. A 2003 PubMed study, Coccidioides immitis as a potential bioweapon, described this mold and how it is used;

“Coccidioides immitis is a fungus endemic to the soil of areas of the southwestern United States, northern Mexico, and scattered areas of Central and South America. Natural infection occurs by inhalation of airborne arthroconidia. C. immitis could be used as a weapon of bioterror or biowarfare with aerosol delivery. Its use for this purpose would, however, present a number of obstacles and its effect would be uncertain and most probably limited.”

The New Yorker reports on how at the University of Arizona in Tucson, a scientist, John Galgiani is attempting to develop a drug that will actually kill it. Galgiani explains how it is difficult to get funding from Big Pharma for valley fever is perceived as a regional disease the market will likely seem too small for a pharmaceutical company to bother with, and has talked with other scientists stating that they wish a President or former President would get cocci so it is taken seriously.

Galgiani had said, “Generals can’t control agents that rely on air currents to disperse them, and it was difficult to use the vector precisely, so it fell out of favor. But terrorists don’t care about that stuff—all they care about is perception. A single cell can cause disease, and you can genetically modify it to make it more powerful.”

Many people are unaware that Iraq was developing weapons of mass destruction using the mycoctoxins from various molds (fungi) since the early 1980’s. The type of biological weapons were intended to seriously incapacitate rather than kill enemy troops. This logic is based on the fact that wounded soldiers would require longer care on the part of the enemy, and would be a bigger drain on their resources.

The United Nations Special Commission (UNSCOM) was an inspection regime created by the United Nations to ensure Iraq’s compliance with policies. UNSCOM had proven after the Iraq-U.S. War, that Iraq’s past WMD programs for mold mycotoxin bio-weapons were carried out at various locations throughout the country.

For example, a biological production and testing sites for these toxic mold weapons were found at Salman Pak located 40 km SE of Baghdad which was for research on Anthrax, Botulinum toxin, Clostridium, perfringens (gas gangrene), mycotoxins, aflatoxins, and Ricin. Researchers at this site carried out toxicity evaluations of these agents and examined their growth characteristics and survivability. At the Agricultural and Water Resources Research Centre at Fudaliyah: Also known as Al Safa, located in Northeastern outskirts of Baghdad was a dedicated to producing aflatoxin from the mold Aspergillus. Nearly 2000 liters of the toxic agent were produced.

The Rand Corporation had released research showing that after the U.S. and Iraq War, Iraq informed the United Nations (UN) that it had produced weapons and chemical war heads using the aflatoxins from the mold known as Aspergillus and several trichothecene toxins (PAC, 1996a, 1996b; Zilinskas, 1997). Aflatoxins can possibly enhance the toxicity of trichothecene mycotoxins after the latter were recognized as military agents (U.S. Army, 1990; Schultz, 1982).

The Rand Corp. had stated;

“Trichothecene mycotoxins are produced by fungi (e.g., Fusaria, Trichoderma, Myrothecium, Stachybotrys); 60 are known. These were originally isolated as possible antifungal microbials or as antiplant agents. Analysis of trichothecene (and aflatoxin) exposures is complicated by their natural occurrence: Their presence alone does not prove a biological attack.

Iraq has admitted to possessing trichothecene mycotoxins and testing them in animals and has been accused of using them against Iran (UNSCOM, 1991, 1992, 1995; Zilinskas, 1997; Heyndrickx, 1984). The report of Iraqi possession of trichothecenes followed a considerable period of interest, attention, and controversy about their use in Southeast Asia (between 1974 and 1981, against Lao and Khmer populations by communist forces) and in Afghanistan (by Soviet forces) (Crocker, 1984; Haig, 1982; Schultz, 1982; Seagrave, 1981). Wannemacher and Wiener (1997), concluded that the Soviets and their clients have used trichothecenes, and the authors present a detailed review of the history of the subject and associated controversy. There may have been shortcomings in the epidemiological approaches (Hu et al., 1989). There were also many difficulties and inconsistencies in agent sampling, transport, and analysis.

These toxins, until discovered in Southeast Asian attack environments, had not been on the usual lists of potential toxin weapons (SIPRI, 1973). Analysts recognized that the toxins could produce the injuries encountered (Watson, Mirocha, and Hayes, 1984). Subsequent research identified properties of military significance, e.g., skin injury from nanogram amounts; eye injuries from micrograms; and serious central nervous system, respiratory, gastrointestinal, and hematological toxicity via multiple routes of exposure (Watson, Mirocha, and Hayes, 1984; Bunner et al., 1985; and Wannemacher and Wiener, 1997).

Iraq developed a method of producing aflatoxin using cultured rice as a growth medium.

UNSCOM was told that some 2,200 liters of aflatoxin were produced at Salman Pak. Some toxin was stored after weapons were filled. The weapons filled with biologicals (at Al Muthanna) included 250- and 400-pound bombs (60 to 85 liters of toxin solution) (Zilinskas, 1997). An unknown number of 122 mm rockets were filled with aflatoxin as were some ten Scud warheads (Zilinskas, 1997). The UN inspectors were told that tests were made

The UN inspectors were told that tests were made using toxin-filled and stimulant-filled 122-mm rockets, but as far as they knew such weapons were not deployed. Iraqi munitions used a simple burster charge to open the walls and disseminate the agent. The Iraqis also possessed several hundred Italian-made pesticide dispensers suitable for biological dissemination by aircraft or land vehicle. A MiG aircraft was modified for unmanned operation and fitted with a 2,200-liter tank to disseminate chemicals or toxins.”

The researchers from the Rand Corp. further stated, “Iraq’s decision for placing aflatoxins in long-range missiles has surprised and puzzled analysts, but one of the theories is that there were used for the long-term potential for carcinogenesis was used to terrorize civilian populations. It was not certain about what military effects would result from use of aflatoxins, they are capable of producing death, seizures, respiratory injury, nausea, vomiting, and liver failure, which would be militarily significant (Chao et al., 1991; Northup et al., 1995; Jakab et al., 1994; Bourgeois, 1971a, 1971b).

Inhaled aflatoxins in microgram amounts are highly immunosuppressive (Jakab et al., 1994) (milligrams would be needed for humans), but this effect would not provide the predictable effects weapon developers favor (use in conjunction with an infectious agent might be an exception).

This family of related toxins is produced by the molds Aspergillus flavus and A. parasiticus, which commonly contaminate food grains before and after harvest. Their toxicity was recognized in the 1960s, and it was later appreciated that they are a significant health problem for domestic animals and humans. The toxins are stable and survive cooking.

Attention has focused on chronic exposure and illness from oral intake, although there have also been acute effects (Steyn, 1995; Coulombe, 1993; Bonomi et al., 1995). This review concentrates on AFB1, the most toxic of the aflatoxin family, although the actual mixture Iraq weaponized is unknown. Aflatoxins show delayed acute toxicity (eight hours to several days) because most require metabolic activation (Daniels et al., 1990). However, most interest in aflatoxins arises from their carcinogenicity. They are implicated in the genesis of hepatocellular carcinoma, which is prevalent in tropical regions (Nigam et al., 1994, Groopman et al., 1996).” (1)

The aflatoxins from the mold Aspergillus were used to produce over 2,300 liters of concentrated toxin in Iraq. The majority of this aflatoxin was used to fill warheads; the remainder was stockpiled.

A 2003 study on mold mycotoxins had discovered that there is considerable evidence that Iraqi scientists developed aflatoxins as part of their bioweapons program during the 1980s. The researchers said, “Toxigenic strains of Aspergillus flavus and Aspergillus parasiticus were cultured, and aflatoxins were extracted to produce over 2,300 liters of concentrated toxin. The majority of this aflatoxin was used to fill warheads; the remainder was stockpiled (248, 290).

Aflatoxins seem a curious choice for chemical warfare because the induction of liver cancer is “hardly a knockout punch on the battlefield” (249). Even so, the repugnance caused by the use of chemical and biological weapons is the kind of emotional response that terrorists seek to elicit. Furthermore, if used against ethnic groups such as the Kurds, the long-term physical and psychological results could be devastating. Finally, some experts think aflatoxin might have been selected simply because it was the “pet” toxin of an influential Iraqi scientist (249).

Unlike the aflatoxins, trichothecenes can act immediately upon contact, and exposure to a few milligrams of T-2 is potentially lethal. In 1981, then Secretary of State Alexander Haig of the United States accused the Soviet Union of attacking Hmong tribesman in Laos and Kampuchea with a mysterious new chemical warfare agent, thereby violating the 1972 Biological Weapons Convention.

The symptoms exhibited by purported victims included internal hemorrhaging, blistering of the skin, and other clinical responses that are caused by exposure to trichothecenes. Leaf samples from Kampuchea were analyzed by Chester Mirocha of the University of Minnesota, who found nivalenon, deoxynivalenon, and T-2. Furthermore, Mirocha stated that the quantity and proportions of the toxins were unknown in nature and that, based on reports in the scientific literature, these mycotoxins did not occur naturally in Southeast Asia. (We now know that trichothecene-producing fungi do exist in Southeast Asia.)

The purported chemical warfare agent came to be known as yellow rain (168).”(2)

The mold known as Fusarium, also know under the code names “Agent Green and Yellow Rain” produces deadly mycotoxins known as trichothecenes. This mycotoxin has been used as the basis of chemical weapons by the United States, the former Soviet Union, Britain, Israel, and France. It is highly toxic and is used in biological warfare operations to attack crops and the human immune system.

During the Reagan Bush Administration’s war on drugs, it was said that in 1983, the CIA was funding research in Hawaii and Peru to use Fusarium to eradicate illegal coca fields that are used in the production of cocaine.

It was such a success, that the New York Times ran the headline, “The Cocaine War’s Biggest Success: a Fungus.” The Ny Times reported, “Coca growers charge that the United States is spreading the fungus with helicopters based in Santa Lucia, an American-built base in the Huallaga. American officials say the fungus is endemic to the Huallaga and is spreading naturally because of single crop cultivation.”

Unfortunately, these bioweapons do not discriminate their targets and they will infect every living thing that it touches, including humans. It has been reported that once the spraying of coca fields had began in Peru, that Peruvian men, women and children were also sprayed with Fusarium. The Peruvian peasants reported that American helicopters appeared over their villages and fields, releasing a “brownish smoke.” A few weeks later, a Fusarium epidemic began to spread (3).

In 1999, Jeb Bush, governor of Florida, began pushing a proposal to spray parts of Florida with Fusarium, so as to wipe out the state’s numerous marijuana farmers. However, Dr. David Struhs, head of Florida’s Department of Environmental Protection, opposed the plan and pointed out that Fusarium was highly “mutagenic” and would also attack and destroy “tomatoes, peppers, flowers, corn and vines.”(4)

Mold Inspection Pro Conclusion

The research above proves that some toxic molds and the mycotoxins they produce have been known to causes illness, disease and death by many governments around the world for a mighty long time. The same molds that are often found in water damaged homes and on contaminated crops that make millions of people ill and thousands of people die.

After all, the purpose of the military is not only to protect and serve, but to go to war and kill people. This is the reason that there has been so much research, and also documentable evidence of use of toxic mold myctoxins in germ warfare for creating biological toxic mold weapons of mass destruction because they maim and kill people.

If this can be done with weapons, then common sense would show that a water damaged home with the same molds and mycotoxins would have the same effects on humans.